New book aims for municipality consolidation

The second edition of a book that aims to help New Jersey municipalities merge and consolidate has been published, with updates that reflect recent legislation.

The “Connect NJ Guidebook: The Tools for Municipal Consolidation in New Jersey,” was first published in January by Courage to Connect New Jersey, a non-profit organization that focuses on community consolidation. Since Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation in April that makes it easier for towns to form consolidation commissions, its creators decided to revamp it now to include the new information.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that New Jersey has 566 redundant municipalities,” said Gina Genovese, the executive director of Courage to Connect New Jersey and one of the book’s three authors. “We all have to work together, we have to make a sustainable structure.”

No Gloucester County municipalities are currently exploring mergers or consolidation, but Cherry Hill and Merchantville citizens have organized a group to study the concept.

Members of Merchantville Connecting for the Future, a grassroots organization, has been exploring consolidation for more than a year; however, their application to study the matter was rejected by the state Department of Community Affairs in December, prompting the new legislation.

The book focuses on a way to consolidate municipalities called “Local Option Municipal Consolidation,” which is a new form of consolidating that was created in 2007 by the state legislature.

It brings readers through the process of forming a “consolidation study commission,” either by voter petition or municipal resolution. The new edition also includes a description of the “Woodbridge Model,” which is a plan for more efficient, streamlined communities in New Jersey, and explains Courage to Connect’s newest program, the Courage to Connect NJ Community Challenge.

The challenge program will finance the state’s first study for consolidating a group of five or more towns.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities supports the move.

“The general position is, we are absolutely supportive of that sort of thing if that’s what the towns want to do,” said Matthew Weng, staff attorney for the League. “It’s been an issue that’s been around for decades, really.”

The idea of consolidating some of New Jersey’s many towns began years ago but was brought into the spotlight with the publication of Alan Karcher’s 1989 book “New Jersey’s Multiple Municipal Madness. No towns have yet to merge.

“It’s a possibility, except that it’s a very emotionally charged issue,” said state Senator Steven Sweeney, of West Deptford. “People like the identity of the town they’re from.”